Captain America 2: Winter Soldier Casting News

Captain America: The First Avenger's Hayley Atwell on whether or not she'll be back for The Winter Soldier.

By IGN Staff

Oh Peggy Carter, we hardly knew ya! Steve Rogers' World War II-era love interest in Captain America: The First Avenger apparently will not return for the next installment in the series, The Winter Soldier.

Hayley Atwell, who played Carter in the first film, tells Time Out London that she won't be back for the sequel. Of course, the film does take place in the present day as far as we know, so it makes sense that Atwell should be left in the past… and certainly that tragic sense of loss adds something to the Steve Rogers character. Plus, Steve has business to tend to in the present anyway, and if the movie follows the path of the comics, it'll be with Sharon Carter, Peggy's niece, or granddaughter, or whoever she'll be in this version of the story. Yeah, Cap went there.

Of course, many have speculated that The Winter Soldier will feature flashbacks to Cap's years in the war, and that still could be the case for all we know. And just because Atwell says she's not in the film now, that doesn't mean Marvel won't call her in for a cameo scene at some point. Don't forget, sometimes they even film scenes after a movie has had its premiere!

Chris Evans, of course, will be back as Cap, along with Cobie Smulders, Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson from The Avengers. Sebastian Stan will reprise his role as Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. the Winter Soldier, while Anthony Mackie joins the Marvel movieverse as the one and only Falcon and Frank Grillo does the same as the villainous Crossbones.